Editorial: Local boards must have say on casinos

It would be charitable to say New York has had a hard time expanding casino operations beyond Native American lands.

It's been a grueling, ridiculous process. It took the state nearly a decade to realize that trying to skirt its own Constitution was not exactly the most brilliant idea ever. Thus, state leaders finally came to the realization that amending the Constitution, which involved two passages of legislation and support from the voters, was the way to go.

But now that the state has the legal blessing, the process for picking exact sites must be aboveboard and as transparent as possible. It is also imperative that localities have their say.

Here is what New Yorkers know: Seven Las Vegas-style gaming casinos can be built around the state but this will take place in several rounds, and the first four are destined to go upstate. As it turns out, the Catskills may be granted two of them, which makes sense for a lot reasons, particularly its proximity to the New York City area market and its ability to lure people away from casinos in New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. New York is losing hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of not being in the game, so to speak, and casinos will help drive tourism in the Catskills.

There are downsides, of course. They include the impact on roads, emergency response teams and school districts. There also are considerable problems associated with gambling addiction - and the plain fact that some communities simply don't want casinos in their area.

To that end, state Sens. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan and Cecilia Tkaczyk, D-Duanesburg, have introduced a sensible bill that would require local support for a casino in a specific municipality. That would have to come about through the passage of a local law or resolution and would avoid seeing the state impose its will on a locality. The bill also makes it clear that casino construction must comply with the state Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, process.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he wants to see the operators for new upstate casinos selected by early fall, but the state Gaming Commission has yet to pick all the members of the siting board that will put out requests for proposals on the upstate casinos.

Considering that so many governors failed on this issue before him, it's understandable that the governor wants to move this process forward.

But that must not come at the expense of undermining local input - or having a process that makes a mockery of transparency.

ADVERTISEMENT

Most Popular

Most Commented

More Headlines

Most Viewed

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Editorial: Local boards must have say on casinos

It would be charitable to say New York has had a hard time expanding casino operations beyond Native American lands.